National Assembly Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning has summoned five firms that sell motorcycles to boda boda operators in the country.
Watu Credit Limited, Mogo Motorcycles Kenya, JoyInc Group, 15 Minutes and My Boda have been summoned for questioning regarding their business models.
They will appear before MPs next week.
This follows complaints from a section of boda boda operators who during public hearings before MPs alleged unfair lending practices they face in the hands of asset finance entities under the Buy Now Pay Later Model model.
The legislators, after hearing harrowing accounts by boda boda operators about what they have undergone in the hands of some lenders, pledged a thorough probe into the matter.
In this regard, a stringent legal framework to regulate the sector is in the works, the MPs said.
Also appearing to shed more light on the matter are the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA).
Lawrence Karanja who chairs a riders’ welfare group in Westlands told the MPs that an asset lending entity carted away a motorcycle belonging to one of his members.
He said this was after the rider had completed a loan facility extended to him. The motorcycle has never been recovered.
James Sambai, who leads a welfare group in Langata, said over 10 riders in his group had mysteriously lost their motorcycles just when they were about to complete the payment of their loan facilities.
The case was no different from that of Faith Otieno who specializes in online deliveries.
Her motorcycle was stolen just when she had parked it to pick up her child from a daycare.
She revealed that she had paid a total of Sh246,000 before the bike got stolen.
Despite the hundreds of motorcycles stolen being insured by the lenders themselves and installed with a tracking device, they had neither been compensated nor had the tracking system led to their discoveries.
Some of the riders also claimed that their colleagues had lost their lives soon after completion of the payment of their loans, under very unclear circumstances.
Others told the committee that they had received threats from some of the companies after they had appeared in the media during an earlier engagement with the Committee on the matter.
“We live in constant fear. You have no idea who your next client is and what their intentions are. We urge this Committee to protect us, “ Eric Wambua, a rider from the Njiru area in Nairobi county, pleaded.
The Molo MP Kuria Kimani-led committee assured the more than 50 operators who attended a meeting with MPs on Wednesday to give their witness accounts that Parliament would stop their suffering.
“We are paid to work for you. We have invited you here because we believe this engagement will offer you reprieve from the agony you have been made to go through,” Kimani said.
“We are therefore committed to this cause and we shall make strong recommendations in our report which will end up on the floor of the House for consideration,” the MP said.
His sentiments were echoed by committee members Joseph Munyoro (Kigumo), Umulkheir Kassim (Mandera), Paul Biego (Chesumei) and John Ariko.
They raised concerns that allegations of exploitation had been going on unabated. The committee was deliberating on a statement sought by Munyoro.